ARTICLES

Hello Geoff Tate-I Love You

MI: What is your birth date? You don't have to give me the year because you look like you're 25.

GT: I'm a Capricorn born January 15th.

MI: You're a Cap? I thought you were a Gem.

GT: What are you?

MI: I'm a Libra.

MI: Tell me where you got the name for the band.

GT: It wasn't really a well thought out thing. If it was it would have been less letters and more easily pronounced. It was kind of a thrown together thing. We were originally called 'The Mob.' We were putting out our first EP and we're getting ready to release it and our management calls and says, 'Guess what? Somebody else has that name. You can't use that name. You have to make it something else.' So, it sent our whole organization into an uproar over what we're gunna be called. Chris, our guitar player, came to rehearsal one day and said, 'I got it! We'll take the song Queen of the Ryche and we'll take Queen and Ryche and we'll make it into Queens Ryche. What do you think?' We all said that'll do.

MI: laughs It's a great name.

GT: Well, I think once you learn how to say it, it sticks with you.

MI: It really does – it's fantastic.

MI: I got Operation: MindCrime. Jeff Albright is sending me Operation: MindCrime 2. How did you end up with Jeff Albright? Jeff Albright's a great guy.

GT: Yeah, he came highly recommended from several different sources. After talkin' with him he seemed really plugged in and very personable – we had a good feelin' so we went with him.

MI: Because I covered you the first time when you came out with Operation: MindCrime again and Sharon Winder talked to your wife Susan for me and she got me into the show. We're going to be doing the the CD review, show review, and the interview all-in-one, we're gunna make it a combo thing, and then I noticed, I had read somewhere after Dime had passed away, you took out the gun part – How did the death of Dimebag Darrel affect you?

GT: Quite heavily, actually. I knew Darrel, not intimately, through the business – he came to several shows, talked back stage, that kinda thing. He was a brother musician, you know? His death is a tragedy and an awful kinda weird thing having a fan shoot him. It's a performing musician's worse nightmare to have a fan do that – you're like a sitting duck up there. You've got all the spot lights on you and you can't see what's going on. You kinda walk out on that stage every night with kind of an aura of trust – nothing protecting you really. Unfortunately, it didn't work for Darrel that night.

MI: I know. It was really weird because I had called up 1-800-GOARMY or GOMARINES or one of them and one of them had told me we train them like they're playing video games to any music that they want to. And I'm like, 'son of a bitch, if I only had my tape recorder on, I would've had them. I'd have'em right there that the government's training them to music and to kill.' And I'm like, 'no, just let it go,' right?

GT: Right.

MI: But, do you fear that this is going to change security for bands since Dime has died? Do you think it's gunna get better or it's gunna get worse?

GT: Well, actually it's a very strange thing that's happened. Security at shows has gotten more intense for one thing. But, also the security people are very much frightened as well – they're kinda targets. So, a lot of them come to work and they get very gun-ho and sometimes they just take out innocent people. Because everybody's just kinda operating from a platform of fear. It was a very weird time to be out on the road performing. It sorta settled down quite a bit now. But, still, security is very tight and a lot of performers just won't perform now. I've heard different stories from people saying 'I don't wanna go.' So, definitely, that's affected live music.

MI: Recently I found out that Powerman 5000 is gunna be playing the Ala Rosa – that's the first band to play the Ala Rosa since Dime's death. I hope they hold the security up.

GT: Yeah, I hope they do.

MI: Tell me something that you want everybody to know about each one of the band members, darling.

GT: I actually blessed working with a bunch of really great people. Having knowing these guys for 25+ years.

MI: So you still have the original band members then.

GT: Yeah, although Chris our original guitar player left about 10 years ago. Everybody else is still the same. It's been a really great working relationship. We've grown up together. Rock and roll has been our college in a sense. We got out of High School and formed a band and boom it took off. We've been doin' it ever since. So, we've grown up together, lived together, we've all gone through marriages, divorces, and deaths together, and having babies, and raising families. It's kind of an intimate bunch of people.

MI: You've got kids now – do you see your kids following in your career?

GT: Oh, I hope not. Laughs

MI: Why not?

GT: Oh, because it's a really bizarre lifestyle and the industry is so frivolous. People who don't really like music anymore. It's kind of lost the magic that it used to have. Which is really unfortunate because it used to be such a great industry. But, I have five kids – all girls. My youngest is 9 and my oldest is 22.

MI: Oh, wow, God bless you!

GT: They kinda range in ages there – so they're all going through different things at different times – it's very interesting.

MI: So, do any of them have daddy's vocals?

GT: Well, I think my youngest. She's probably the most interested in music. Although all of them play an instrument. None of them have really taken it as being their life's calling. But the youngest, might be – she might do it.

MI: So, what is the difference between Operation: MindCrime and Operation: MindCrime 2?

GT: Well, there's a lot of differences and a lot of similarities. It's really the conclusion to the story. The first one has a setup for the second. It was always intended to have a sequel. It just took us a quite a bit longer to make the sequel than we originally planned. We originally planned on releasing Operation: MindCrime 2 after the Empire album in 91 or 92. But, through various reasons and albums taking precedence it just got put on the back burner 'till lately. In retrospect I'm really glad that it took as long as it did. Because it gives it an air of realism to the story. The first one ends with the lead character, Nikki, being put away in prison. As it ends up, he sat there for 18 y ears. It also gives me a chance to live life a little bit and have a different perspective on what this character was going through now and to be able to write it from a more interesting standpoint. In a nutshell, it is the conclusion to the story, the next chapter.

MI: I can't wait to hear it, I'm excited. Tell me about the Three Tremors with Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson you little devil. What are you doin' with those two boys?

GT: Nothing really. That whole thing was dinner conversation. We were all touring at the time and we were all out having Italian food. Lot's of wine being passed around and a great meal. We were all telling jokes and telling stories. I think it was Rob Smallwood who pulled the waiter over and said, 'What is this we're listening to, this opera music?' The waiter said, 'Oh, this is the Three Tenors.' You know – Pavoratti, Domingo, and Carerras. Rob just cracked up and started laughing. He raised up his wine glass and said, 'I think that Geoff and Rob and Bruce should do a metal opera called the Three Tremors! Wouldn't that be fantastic.' We all laughed and toasted – that was kinda it. But, there were some people at the dinner who were on the web that started the rumor. Before you knew it the rumor took off. We never actually did anything! Laughs

MI: What do you think about the new Mel Gibson incident?

GT: I missed all that – I just caught a headline on the paper the other day.

MI: Supposedly they picked him up for a DUI, his alcohol levels were really up, and he was makin' anti-semitic remarks about Jews, all this and all that. He's being sentenced on the 18th. I mean really bad remarks.

GT: What did he say?

MI: That Jews were the problem of the world. The Jews caused the war. The Jews did this, the Jews did that, da da da. He refused to get in the fuckin' police car. All this shit. It's all over Court TV. You gotta watch Court TV. I think it's funny as shit. I think it's really, really funny. But in a way it's put his career back out on the market, if that makes sense. But, I don't think it's gunna go anywhere, I think it's killed it. He's calling Rabi's asking for forgiveness.

GT: Maybe it all has something to do with publicity for his new movie.

MI: What new movie?

GT: I dunno, does he have a new movie?

MI: I don't know if he has a new movie out.

GT: Usually Hollywood people have an interesting way of creating hype.

MI: Yeah, I know.

MI: What was your most memorable show that you played live?

GT: There's been so many, I think we've played 6,000 shows, or something like that. They're all memorable for different reasons. There's really great shows where everything works – you know, all the gear works, nothing breaks down. There's show where you go outside your normal level and you do some amazing things. There's shows where nothing works at all and everything falls apart – a big embarrassment. There's small shows where somehow communication gets messed up then there's like 200 people there. There's shows like, Rock in Rio in 91, 225,000 people there – that was pretty darn incredible.

MI: What's the most fucked up thing you ever saw on tour?

GT: We had an incident in Dalton where two people were killed in our show.

MI: Oh, shit.

GT: Yeah, that was pretty fucked up. What was pretty weird about it was because of Belgian law we had to stop the show and nobody could leave the venue. They chained up the doors. They were stuck inside and here were these bodies lying in the middle of the floor their blood everywhere. Everybody had to stay in there. We got put in our dressing room and they wouldn't let us out. The cops showed up and did a whole investigation. Our crew and everybody had to stay up on stage and they were trying to keep people form rioting. It was a big confusing mess. They were trying to calm the crowd down and the only music we could play to calm them down was the only CD we had; which was a CD we were using for our intro music that was a track from The Blue Velvet movie. Which is a really fucked up movie. The music is really bizarre, twisted, weird and eerie and kinda nightmarish. This music is playing and everybody is crowded up against the wall. They don't want to get near the body and these dead bodies are in the middle of the venue. It was the most surreal scene and I kinda wish in a way that somebody would have filmed it because it would have made a horrific horror film.

MI: That bad?

GT: Yeah, that bad.

MI: That's sad, that is sad.

MI: What are your thoughts on legalizing marijuana?

GT: You're just all over the place here with these questions.

MI: Yes I am. I'm just all over the place.

GT: Well, I'm for it. I'm for legalizing a lot of things. In the United States especially. We have way too many laws. I think we have way too many attorneys making laws and it's getting so that you can't move; you can't operate or do anything without breaking a law. I think that's one of the things – legalizing marijuana is a good thing. Because it's a known relaxer. As long as you do it responsibly I think it's no worse than drinking alcohol. I think if it has some sort of regulation around it I think it would be a good thing. I mean, it works in Holland.

MI: Yeah it does and I think it should be legalized here.

MI: Who inspired your vocals? Who is your inspiration?

GT: I have many.

MI: Like who?

GT: Well I started singing when I was really young; nine or ten, something like that. I've always been inspired by music of the times. I grew up listening to the great music in the 60's, 70's – a lot of the great artists and bands that came out of those eras. It's just been a cumulative effect on me. I've just taken what I've learned from all the different singers out there and used it in pieces and built my own thing.

MI: And there you are, the great and sexy Geoff Tate.

MI: What do you think about the US involvement in the Mid-east?

GT: Well, I think it's all a big coverup for oil for the various US owned oil companies to create a pipeline through Afghanistan. Which, they've done. I think it was a real sucker move on this administration to try to nail Iraq for the bombings in New York. I think it's all a big money making scheme. I think that as Americans we're so used to buying what is sold to us on tv, that we bought the commercial and the administration is very clever about how they sell things. They sell policy like it was a product and they did a great job on selling the American people on a big farce. So that a few people can make a lot of money.

MI: Right, because just recently I heard on the news that they're keeping the press out of the pressroom for the President for the next nine months.

GT: Yeah, what kind of open society is that that we live in?

MI: What the hell is going on with that one?

MI: Do you think Bush knew about 9/11?

GT: Oh yeah, I think he was involved with it. I think that there's a lot of evidence out there that shows that he and his administration have everything to do with it. I think it was a planned demolition and used it as a scapegoat to involve us in a Middle East oil scam.

MI: From your own opinion: do you think it was from the movie Fahrenheit 9/11?

GT: That's from my own opinion. Just doing research on it, looking into it, and talking to people. You know there was a relative of George Bush that was in charge of security of the World Trade Center up until the bombings happened.

( Uhh... Damn? That's very fucked up to learn about. )

MI: Really?! I never knew that.

GT: That's pretty common knowledge now. They're just very good about covering stuff up. They've taken all the records, all the photos, and everything and it's really difficult now to find actual photographs of the bombings. It's all been classified and tucked away nice and neat.

MI: I'm originally from New York and I've been in Atlanta for five years. I go up every three months to see my mom, do business, whatever, right? About two years ago they picked up some guy – Bloomberg found out that some guy was picking up people's wallets, people's wedding rings, people's stuff that they had gotten from the rubbage that was just coming up from the sediment in the ground. He was selling it on eBay. That is creepy.

GT: Creepy that somebody would buy it.

MI: Yeah. That is really, really creepy.

( That's fuckin' sick. He should get the death penalty. )

MI: So, what do you think Bush's next move is going to be?

GT: I think his next move is getting out of office. Laughs I think he's done everything possible to secure his investment and his administration's various people investments. They've done a fantastic job at creating chaos in the Middle East. All while constructing pipelines and rerouting oil and settin' themselves up for retirement.

MI: Do you think the European Union was behind the bombings of 9/11?

GT: No, I don't think so.

MI: Do you think that they believe Bush was behind it?

GT: Yeah, I remember traveling in Europe at the time and most of the world thought the US was crazy by getting involved with this and doing what they were doing without solid evidence that Iraq was involved. It was all circumstantial evidence. They wanted the US to be in the World Community and active within the World Community's guidelines and Bush was acting like a Lone Ranger out there. He brought this country into a war and we're paying for it now. Young kids over there fighting a war. What's really our reason for being there?

( Haha, Lone Ranger. Fuckin' Texan thinks this shit is the wild west. No offense to Texans – only to Bush. )

MI: What is our reason for being there, because here we go again: I just heard something on the news last night that claimed they have raised the age that you can join the military up to 42. Meanwhile, they're sending home bodies of soldiers between the ages of 35 and 60. I'm like, wow. But, meanwhile, nobody is remembering the younger ones that are dying.

MI: It's like another Vietnam.

GT: It's just like Vietnam.

MI: Do you see the next President, whoever it is, being able to get us out of this mess?

GT: I hope so. It's probably more involved than we'll ever know. But, who knows what's really going on? You can't even trust the news media anymore. It's also commercially motivated and controlled. It's gotten to a point that I think, for me at least, where it's so frustrating to try to found out what is truth and what could I do about it individually. Not much, except vote.

MI: Are you going to vote Democrat, Republican, or what? What do you think you're going to do?

GT: I don't vote for the party. I vote for the person. I'll have to see who's running.

( Great fucking point. )

MI: Yeah, that's how I'm looking at it.

MI: What are you thoughts about all of these festivals – Ozz Fest, The Warped Tour, all of them. What do you think about them?

GT: I don't really have an opinion on them because I don't follow them.

MI: Tell me what you think about the new MTV in comparison to the old MTV.

GT: I don't know – we've just started tossing around some musical ideas as of late. Nothing's really solid, yet. I've got two other projects that I'm involved with outside of Queen's Ryche. One is a solo record that I've had on the backburner for a while. The other one is a conceptual theme record that I'm working on with some people. I don't know which one is going to come out first at this point. But, it's going to be one or the other.

MI: Do you see yourself bringing out a box set with Queens Ryche?

GT: I think we have one out.

MI: Oh really? Do you see yourself putting out another one?

GT: I don't know. I think our record label is re-releasing an album that we released in 1999 with some extra tracks that were not released before.

( Information about current Queens Ryche Box Sets:

Revolution Calling, released on June 10th, 2003 with 9 discs.

Operation: LiveCrime, released on November 20th, 2001contains a re-released CD and DVD of the original box set. )

MI: When do you see your solo project coming out?

GT: Probably sometime next year.

MI: If you were stuck on a desert island and six people, that's including your wife, your favorite CD, your favorite book, and your favorite liquor then what would they be?

GT: I don't know if I'd bring a CD. I would bring quite a few cases of good Italian red wine, chuckles because that's what I like to drink. I don't know if I'd bring a book, I would probably bring a lot of writing paper to write.

MI: On top of your vocals do you also play an instrument?

GT: Yeah, I play keyboards, piano, and saxophone.

MI: Really? Wow.

MI: If you were God for a week, what would you change? Laughs

GT: I would change everybody's mind. Laughs

MI: Do you believe in psychics?

GT: Yeah, I do.

MI: Have you ever had a psychic reading?

GT: Oh yes, yeah. Actually, I get a psychic reading about once a year.

MI: Really? If you ever need one, I do readings, give me a call.

MI: Have you ever had a paranormal experience?

GT: I have a ghost that lives in my house.

MI: Really? What's the little ghost do?

GT: It's a little girl ghost. She runs through the hallways and she's always wearing a little white dress. A little white summer dress. She's always very happy. She turns lights on and off, opens cupboards and stuff like that. We think that she might live in one of my daughter's rooms. Because my daughter has a chair in the corner and she can't keep anything in the chair. Every time she puts something in her chair it gets put on the floor.

MI: And it's the youngest daughter, too, right?

GT: Yeah. has a 'how did you know that?' tone to his voice We think that that's her spot. So, we keep stuff out of the chair and leave the chair there.

MI: That's cool.

MI: If there was a movie made of your life who would play you and what would the theme song be?

GT: chuckles Wow, let's see, I would probably get somebody really good looking like Johnny Depp or somebody like that if I could.

MI: Ok, Johnny Depp would play you good. What would the theme song be?

GT: Actually, I think I'd have to write that.

MI: Alright, you go write that. When I asked George Thorougood a couple weeks ago the same questions, he replied: " Sidney Portier! Go with the best, you know?" I'm like, mother fucker, this is going to be fucked up.

GT: chuckles That'd be a true test of acting there.

MI: It would be a true test.

GT: I could really see Sidney throwing down on the guitar like that.

MI: I could, too. Truthfully, I could.

GT: Bad to the bone!

MI: Do you believe in reincarnation?

GT: You know, I'd like to. But, I'm kind of non-commital on that yet. I mean I like the idea. I think it's a really plausible thing. I'm undecided. Chuckles

MI: If you could bring back anybody dead to have lunch with, who would it be?

GT: My grandma, because I wasn't there when she died and I regret that and I wish that I could've had one last conversation with her.

MI: I could dedicate the interview to her if you'd like.

GT: That would be nice.

MI: What's her name?

GT: Her name's Nancy.

MI: Growing up who did you consider your heros? Could be superheros, musicians, anybody.

GT: When I was a kid I was really into superheros for a long time. Superman, Spiderman, etc. Comic books were a big influence on my early life. I got really involved with sailing.

MI: Do you still sail?

GT: Oh yeah, I'm sittin' on my boat talkin' to you.

GT: I really got into a really famous sailer named Joshua – one of the first guys to sail around the world by himself. He wrote a book that just really resonates with me. I think he's one of my earliest heros.

MI: So you would consider him one of your favorite writers, too?

GT: Oh yeah, absolutely.

MI: Who do you think the best vocalist is that influenced your voice?

GT: My Aunt Cicilia, she was an opera singer with the Cincinnati Opera for years. When we get together for family reunions she would always perform for the family. I wanted to sing like her, I just loved the sound of her voice. She had such passion when she sung and I think she was one of the first musical inspirations for me.

MI: What do you think the best thing that ever happened to Rock and Roll was?

GT: I'd say the invention of the electric guitar.

MI: What do you like to do when you're not on your boat sailing or on the road and having a good time, what do you do?

GT: I work. Chuckles

MI: Ok, you're like me. Laughs

MI: If you were really pissed at someone, who would you like to dump a bucket of flesh eating ants on?

GT: laughs I'm really not very vindictive.

MI: You're very peaceful.

GT: Yeah, I kinda lean that way. I feel that people have a certain road to follow throughout their life and they have to learn certains things. Everybody makes mistakes; some people make giant mistakes that affect millions and others that make little mistakes that just affect ourselves or our family. But, you learn from those situations, hopefully, and you try to become a better person.

MI: Now, you've been in the business for years and you guys have survived everything. What would you warn any young band walking into the industry? What would you advise them?

GT: I get asked that question a lot. From bands, too. I would say, just follow your heart and keep true to your music and your creativity. Don't listen to what everybody else says you should do. Just do what it is you believe in. In this industry it's like the waves of the ocean. You have times where you're on top of the wave and people are listening to what you're doing and you have other times where you're down in the trough of the wave and nobody knows you're alive. You have moments where you connect with commerciality and you're in the spotlight and the other times you're not. So you have to find something that keeps you sane in all those times. I think what does that with me is the belief in the music and my own creativity and my relationship with the band. We got into this because we love music. We didn't get into this because we wanted to be famous or rock stars. We've always clung to that, it's always been our motto throughout the years. Be true to the music, be true to your belief in making music, and don't give a shit about what everybody else says about you.

MI: What do you consider your greatest achievement of all times?

GT: I've had a couple.

MI: You've got five of'em.

GT: Trying to keep the band rolling along and keeping the band together through thick and thin and trying to raise a family of well adjusted people who aren't neurotic and screwed up. That's really been what my life's work here has been. Chuckles

MI: Do you take the kids with you on the road?

GT: Sometimes they come along. They don't all come together at one time.

MI: Yeah, you'd loose your mind if you had all five together.

GT: Yeah.

MI: But, they do have a good time, though.

GT: Yeah, they've all grown up with it so they're used to traveling and used to living in hotel rooms and how to order room service and how to get a cab.

MI: If you had a million dollars to donate to a charity, which charity would it be?

GT: Well, we're donating a lot of money to the Save the Music Foundation that VH1 has. On this tour, we're doing a motorcycle ride for donations that coincides with our tour. If you go to our website, QueensRyche.com, and click the Save the Music logo it'll tell you how to sign up and be part of it. What it is we ride motorcycles from city to city and people can signup to ride with us and the money goes to the Save the Music Foundation. At the end of the tour the Buell bikes are going to be auctioned off for the Save the Music Foundation as well.

MI: That's fantastic.

MI: Tell me about the worst job you've ever had.

GT: Well, before the band kicked off I had 26 different jobs. They ranged from waiters and restaurants to construction jobs. The shortest job I had was when I worked at a company that made ceramic kilns that you can make ceramics in. It was an awful job and I left after about four hours. I just couldn't take it because it was so dusty and dirty. You had to wear masks and protective clothing and all this. It was just a hazardous job. I had a job at the zoo cleaning the monkey cages and feeding the monkeys.

MI: That must have been fun.

GT: That was fun, but kind of weird. Monkeys are weird, they're very strange animals, they're so much like humans that they freak me out. The first day that I went there I walked into the monkey cage and they're all sitting there looking at me. I was introducing my say, 'Hey, I'm Geoff, I'm here.' I was tryin' to be cool with the animals. As soon as I shut the door and I'm standing there they all crapped in their hands and started throwing shit at me.

Laughter

MI: I guess you were accepted.

GT: They were laughing and having a great time.

( I went to visit the Monkey Museum near Miami, Florida last year. They have these metal plates that you can put fruit and nuts into. Well, these plates are attached to small chains that the monkeys overhead can pull up and eat. As I was putting fruit in one plate a monkey ran up and pissed on the plate! I mean, this bitch had a good 3 foot shot to the plate and nailed it! I was like, wtf?! All while laughing my ass off. They had hand sanitizer stations nearby. )

MI: Do you see Queens Ryche opening up their own label? Do you see yourself opening up your own label?

GT: We used to have our own label. We started out on 206 Records that our EP was released on. Because of that it flowed so well that the major labels picked us up. We've been on major labels ever since. It's a whole different world now days with labels.

MI: How do you see the label business working?

GT: It's all kind of undecided at the moment because the rules keep changing.

MI: It's like the rugs have been shaken up again.

GT: Yeah, it's hard to know. I know our record label, Rhino, has a real niche. They're tied in with Warner Brothers world wide. They have their cataloge sales that helps pay the bills.

MI: And you're happy with them.

GT: They're a wonderful label filled with great people who really love music and everything about music.

MI: Who is your favorite author of all time?

GT: I don't think I have a favorite, really. I have lots of different authors that I've enjoyed. Peter Nichols, who's very entertaining. I really like Anne Rice's stuff from a fiction standpoint.

MI: What's your favorite movie of all times?

GT: I definitely don't have a favorite movie. I hardly watch movies any more, I'm so disappointed in them all.

MI: Yeah, no crap.

GT: There's just so many of them. It used to be that a handful of good movies that would come out in a year. They keep getting to a smaller number that are good, it seems.

MI: They've got that new movie Pulse coming out. I'm like, I know I saw that movie two years ago and they renamed it.

GT: laughs

MI: I know they renamed it.

GT: Well the problem is that they're tryin' to tell stories and there's not that many great story tellers. But, the amount of movies that they're tryin' to put out, it's all economy based. They're tryin' to put out a zillion movies. A lot of them take established stories and just rewrite them.

( Yeah, great point. I've been going to see a lot of movies recently and they all just suck ass. I feel like I'm wasting my time and money for each one. )

MI: If you really want to see a good movie then rent Secret Window with Johnny Depp.

GT: Is it?

MI: Oh - my - God. Stephen King wrote the book. The movie is mind-blasting. I've got to watch it at least once a week. It's freaky as shit. It's like a combination of Anne Rice and Stephen King, but you know it's Stephen King. The movie just grabs you, you can't get enough of it. I'm being dead serious.

( I agree, great movie. Very intellectually stimulating, too. )

MI: If you had a message for your fans, what would it be?

GT: Thanks for listening to Queens Ryche and come see us play.

MI: Have you gotten a MySpace profile?

GT: No.

MI: You should, you'll get a lot of hits. Take my word on it.

GT: I have so many fans now, I don't need anymore. Chuckles

MI: What is your favorite quote of all times?

GT: My favorite quote?

MI: Yes, it could be anything from anywhere. Mine is: "Fucker, fucker, fucker, ..." When I've had a bad day, that's all I do. Laughs

GT: Who said that?

MI: Me.

GT: laughs Whoever wrote "Shit Happens" makes a lot of sense. Laughs

MI: That's a good one.

MI: So, when do we expect you back in Atlanta.

GT: I think we're playing in Atlanta. I'm not sure of the date. Something like the 29th of August.

MI: Yeah, are you bringing an opener with you?

GT: No. We're actually doing an interesting show. We're playing Operation: MindCrime 1 and 2 together. It's us playing the music like a normal concert. But, we have actors that join us and play the various characters of the story. It's sort of like a musical.

MI: That's going to be a good show!

GT: Yeah, we're going to have film screens and two sets. An interior set and an exterior set. Some of the action takes place in a warehouse and some of the action takes place in an alleyway. A court room scene where Nikki gets judged and sentenced to prison. The jury is made up of contest winners who called in to radio stations and won a place in the jury. Which is cool. The whole thing is in surround sound. Which really is quite phenominal.

( That is really fuckin' sweet. Awesome PR activity. Hmm... Just an idea, future 'musicals' could be done and the jury spots auctioned out for charity? )

MI: There was rumors that you took out the gun part after Dime passed.

GT: Yeah. Well, we put it back in there.

MI: You put it back in now, ok.

GT: They like guns in the show. Chuckles

MI: Of course they do! Laughs You can't have a show without a gun! Especially with you, you're gorgeous. You'd be perfect with that little gun in your belt. I've got great shots of you, Geoff. I've got to send them to you.

MI: We're gunna put up the CD review. As soon as Jeff sends me Operation: MindCrime 2 I'm putting up the interview. I'm going to give you a link to the site. Then we're going to do the show review and Operation: MindCrime 2. We're gunna put it all in. So you get Albright to get his ass on his balls and get me that CD or I'm gunna kick his butt.

MI: But, meanwhile, you have a good day sailing.

GT: Alright, you take care Barbara and thank you for your time.

MI: Thank you, baby, you have a good one, too.

GT: Bye.

About this Article

This article was written by Barbara Fara and is identified as Article #516.